Charleston police in standoff at home over deputy shooting

Police surrounded an apartment building where they think a suspect in the wounding of a sheriff's deputy was holed up Thursday morning, and officers were in an hours-long standoff.

The suspect is thought to be the man identified in a sketch as a person of interest in the wounding of Berkeley County sheriff's Lt. Will Rogers last week, Charleston police spokesman Charles Francis said.

The suspect's name has not been released. Police arrived at the scene about 4 a.m. Thursday, and the standoff continued more than four hours later.

Rogers was shot by a masked man at a gas station in nearby Moncks Corner, about 30 miles northwest of Charleston, on May 14 as he was talking to a customer in the parking lot, according to police. The gunman then stole a car and fled the scene, police say.

On Thursday, officials said negotiators were trying to talk the man believed to be the shooter out of an apartment in Robert Mills Manor, a public housing complex a block or so from the popular King Street antiques row in the city's historic district. Several streets in the area are closed.

Rogers is listed in critical but stable condition at the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital.

Witness statements say that Rogers was shot in the head and that the masked man was carrying a strange package and appeared out of the adjoining woods. The car the gunman stole was found about two hours later, police said.

The day after the shooting, dozens of officers searched an area south of town near Cypress Gardens, a 170-acre garden and swamp that is a popular tourist attraction. The search was called off after a day when authorities said they thought the suspect had left the area.

On Tuesday, the wounded lieutenant's daughter, Jaime Rogers Wyatt, issued a tearful plea for the public to come forward with information to help catch the shooter.